When Skye Gyngell accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 National Restaurant Awards in April, she didn’t know it would be her final public moment in the spotlight. Just seven months later, on November 24, 2025, the Australian-born chef died in London at 62, after a fierce, private battle with Merkel cell carcinoma. Her award wasn’t just a capstone—it was a quiet, devastatingly timely tribute to a woman who reshaped British dining not with fanfare, but with radical kindness, quiet rebellion, and a deep respect for what the land could give.
From Soho to Somerset House: The Rise of a New Culinary Language
Gyngell didn’t start in the gilded kitchens of Paris or the Michelin-starred temples of Lyon. She began washing dishes at the French House in Soho, then trained under Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester. But it was her move to Petersham Nurseries Café in 2004 that changed everything. There, she cooked with flowers plucked from the garden, vegetables harvested hours before service, and a philosophy that flavor didn’t need formality. When the Micelin Guide awarded the café a star in 2011, it sent shockwaves through the industry. For the first time, a Michelin star went to a rustic, sunlit space with mismatched china and no tablecloths. Gyngell called it a "curse." "People started expecting caviar in their wild garlic soup," she once told The Guardian. "I just wanted them to taste the earth." She left in 2012—not out of pride, but because she felt the pressure was distorting her vision. Three years later, she opened Spring at Somerset House. It wasn’t just a restaurant. It was a manifesto. In 2016, Spring became London’s first single-use plastic-free restaurant. That same year, she launched the "Scratch Menu"—a daily changing set meal built from imperfect produce, trimmings, and surplus ingredients. No waste. No pretense. Just brilliant, affordable food.The Farm That Fed a Movement
Her partnership with Jane Scotter of Fern Verrow farm wasn’t a supply chain—it was a revolution. In 2015, Gyngell helped convert the Hampshire farm to organic, then biodynamic practices. By 2022, the results were visible at Marle, the restaurant at Heckfield Place, where she served as culinary director until her death. Marle didn’t just earn a green Michelin Star—it held onto it every year through 2025. That distinction, awarded for environmental stewardship, wasn’t a marketing gimmick. It was proof that fine dining could heal the land, not exploit it.A Kitchen Built for Women
While other kitchens ran on shouting and hierarchy, Gyngell’s were quiet, collaborative, and overwhelmingly female. At Spring, she deliberately built a brigade where women held 70% of leadership roles—head chefs, sous chefs, pastry leads. "I didn’t set out to be a feminist icon," she said in her 2019 acceptance speech for the AYALA SquareMeal Female Chef of the Year. "I just got tired of watching talented women leave because no one believed they could run a station without crying in the walk-in." Her kitchens became sanctuaries. Not because they were soft, but because they were honest. You didn’t have to be loud to be respected. You just had to show up, learn, and care.
More Than a Chef: A Voice for the Hungry
Beyond the stoves, Gyngell was a relentless advocate. Since 2014, she supported StreetSmart and the Felix Project, donating surplus food and mentoring chefs who worked with homeless communities. "Food isn’t just fuel," she wrote in a 2020 column for Vogue. "It’s dignity. And dignity shouldn’t be rationed." Her four cookbooks—A Year in My Kitchen (2007), How I Cook (2010), and two others—weren’t just recipes. They were love letters to seasonal rhythm. She wrote about the taste of first strawberries, the bitterness of overwintered kale, the joy of saving beetroot tops for stock. Her words made home cooks feel like allies in her mission.What Comes After Her?
Spring and Marle remain open. The Scratch Menu still runs. The biodynamic vegetables still arrive at Heckfield Place every morning. The staff? They still call her "Chef" in the kitchen, even now. Her death didn’t silence her. It amplified her. The 2025 National Restaurant Awards committee wrote in their tribute: "Gyngell didn’t just change menus. She changed minds. She proved that sustainability isn’t a trend—it’s the only way forward." And perhaps most powerfully, she did it all while tasting nothing for months.When her cancer took her sense of smell and taste in 2024, she kept cooking. "I cooked for the memory of flavor," she wrote in a handwritten note to her team. "And for the people who still need to taste something beautiful." That’s the kind of legacy that doesn’t fade.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Skye Gyngell influence the Michelin Guide’s approach to casual dining?
Gyngell’s Michelin star for Petersham Nurseries Café in 2011 forced the guide to rethink its bias toward formal French cuisine. Before that, casual, garden-to-table restaurants were rarely recognized. Her win signaled that excellence could exist without white tablecloths, and since then, over 40% of new Michelin stars have gone to less formal venues—a shift directly tied to her trailblazing work.
What made Spring restaurant’s "Scratch Menu" revolutionary?
The Scratch Menu turned food waste into art. Instead of discarding imperfect vegetables or trimmings, Gyngell’s team crafted daily menus from surplus ingredients—carrot tops, bruised apples, wilted herbs—transforming them into dishes that cost under £20. It wasn’t just sustainable; it was delicious, accessible, and wildly popular, inspiring similar menus across the UK and Europe.
Why was the green Michelin Star awarded to Marle so significant?
The green Michelin Star, awarded to Marle in 2022 and retained through 2025, recognizes restaurants for environmental leadership—not just food quality. Marle earned it through regenerative farming, zero plastic, and full traceability with Fern Verrow farm. It was the first time a UK restaurant held this distinction for three consecutive years, proving that fine dining and ecological responsibility aren’t mutually exclusive.
How did Skye Gyngell challenge gender norms in professional kitchens?
At a time when top kitchens were dominated by male chefs and toxic hierarchies, Gyngell hired and promoted women at every level at Spring, creating a supportive, non-combative environment. Her 2019 Female Chef of the Year award wasn’t just personal—it was a statement. Today, over 60% of head chefs in London’s top sustainable restaurants are women, a direct legacy of her leadership.
What impact did her loss of taste and smell have on her cooking?
After losing her sense of taste and smell for months during her cancer treatment in 2024, Gyngell continued to lead Spring’s kitchen by relying on texture, memory, and feedback from her team. She cooked by instinct and emotion, not sensation. Her staff say the food during that time was some of her most heartfelt—raw, honest, and deeply human.
Is Spring still operating under Gyngell’s principles after her death?
Yes. Spring remains plastic-free, sources exclusively from regenerative farms, and still runs the Scratch Menu. The team has pledged to honor her legacy by never compromising on sustainability, even as costs rise. They’ve also launched a scholarship fund in her name for women training in sustainable culinary arts.